AKRON, Ohio, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- An independent poll commissioned by the non-profit group U.S. Citizens Association in Ohio's hotly contested 16th Congressional District reveals troubling news for first-term Democrat Representative John Boccieri in his re-election campaign against Republican Jim Renacci.

National eyes are trained on the outcome of the 16th District of Ohio as a key indicator in predicting Republican chances of taking control of the House of Representatives in November.

In the poll of 300 likely voters in the 16th District conducted May 13th, 47.2% of the respondents indicated they would vote for Jim Renacci if the election were held today, while 34.9% favored the incumbent Boccieri. Among those percentages 35.9% would definitely vote for the Republican challenger, while 26.5% would definitely vote for Boccieri. 15.5% were undecided.

While those numbers indicate an uphill battle for Boccieri heading into November, there are even more ominous numbers in the poll for the first-term Democrat.

Of the likely voters polled, 37% had a favorable opinion of Boccieri, while 34% had an unfavorable opinion. 25% had no opinion. When asked the same question of Jim Renacci, 31% held a favorable view while 13% had an unfavorable opinion. 26% had never heard of Renacci. Despite a full quarter of those polled having never heard of the Republican challenger, Renacci still held a 13% advantage over the Democrat incumbent.

48% of those polled said it was time, after just two years in Congress, to replace Boccieri with someone new. 41.3% of those polled identified themselves as Republican, 46.4% identified themselves as Democrats and 10.3% were Independents.

In 2008, Representative Boccieri defeated Kirk Schuring to replace the retiring Ralph Regula by 32,000 votes (55%-44%) in the traditionally Republican leaning district. A potential explanation for Boccieri's plummeting job approval and poll numbers could be directly linked to his decision to switch his vote on the controversial Health Care Reform Bill from No last fall to Yes this past March. His vote was critical is passage of the legislation that was opposed by the majority of Americans in polls conducted during the heated health care debate.